Insurance Commissioners Sue Vatican Over Frankel

“Any lawsuit is very important but suing the Vatican was something the commissioners combined and the staff they brought in debated back and forth and based on the facts presented with thought it was something we needed to do,” he says.

Frankel fled to Europe in 1999. He was extradited and pled guilty 3 years later in Mississippi to stealing $208 million in 5 states.

Just before Frankel’s mansion burned down in 1999 along with much of the evidence in the case, Dale summoned Frankel and lawyers and priests with Vatican ties to discuss the case.

The previous year Frankel had formed a bogus charity known as the St. Francis of Assisi Foundation that ultimately was used to funnel more than $434 million in bogus insurance company policies.

Frankel’s connection with the Vatican was New York attorney Thomas Bolan, who introduced him to a number of financial figures in Rome.

Harrell says that at one point shortly before the scam broke he noticed that 3 insurers were purchased by St. Francis but never filed proper “change of control” forms.

An attorney for the Mississippi department said that even if the Vatican did not profit from the St. Francis connection officials there still could be held responsible if they were aware of a conspiracy.